The invention herein is a new and distinct variety of Petunia sp. The new Petunia is botanically known as ‘DaSaJa1’. I discovered the ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia in a cultivated area on my farm in Otisville, Mich., in March 2010.
The ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia, was a naturally occurring whole plant mutation. The ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia began to exhibit qualities distinctly different from other types of petunias in the surrounding area, namely, the other petunias in the surrounding area had flowers that are solid red in color, and generally upright in their growth, and thus taller than the ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia. Further the foliage of the other petunias in the area exhibited a lighter shade of green, and the petal margins were solid red.
The ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia is unlike other petunia plants in terms of both its flower color and its growth habit. The ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia exhibits a limited growth in height, and spreads outwardly clinging to its surrounding areas. As shown in FIG. 3, when potted in suspension, the overall shape of the ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia is generally spherical, and the internodes grow upright to a limited height so as to remain rigid. A rigid internode is atypical of Petunias which have internodes that grow upright and then bend due to the weight of the flower or leaves. Another example of a related known cultivar in which the ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia is different from is a petunia plant named ‘Bhtun31501’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 21,649) also known as “Pretty Much Picasso.” Bhtun31501 has dark purple with green colored margin flowers while ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia has red with thin green margin flowers.
Asexual reproduction of the ‘DaSaJa1’ Petunia began on or about May 2010 by vegetative cuttings. Since May 2010 several vegetative cuttings were performed at approximately 60 day to 90 day intervals in Otisville Mich.